Capitalism: A Love Story Page #7

and the teachings of the Bible.

Moore:
And if increasing profits

means locking up a few kids

or cashing in on the death

of an employee...

( distorted ) Compatible with God's laws

and the teachings of the Bible.

Moore:
...it is morally right to provide

for the stockholders.

( distorted )

They are compatible with God's laws

and the teachings of the Bible.

Moore:

Debt, eviction and exploitation.

( distorted )

God's laws and the teachings of the Bible.

Moore:
What were we really

pledging our allegiance to?

( distorted )

The profit motive.

Moore:
And so all good Americans

came to act as if they believed

our capitalist economic system

was compatible

with the teachings of the Bible.

( organ music playing )

When l was a kid,

l wanted to be a priest.

lt wasn't because

of the fancy getups

or the Knights of Columbus

escorts,

or even the groovy nuns

who were so good to me.

lt was because of the priests

who went on the march from Selma,

or tried to stop the war,

or devoted their lives to the poor.

They told me quite clearly

what Jesus said,

that the first shall be last

and the last shall be first;

That the rich man

will have a very hard time

getting into heaven;

That we will be judged by how

we treat the least among us;

And that there are no people

more important to God

than the poor.

Since that time,

it seems that Jesus got hijacked

by a lot of people who believe

that the son of God

was sent here to create

heaven on earth for the well-to-do.

l must have missed

that part of the Bible

where Jesus became a capitalist.

Man:

Please tell me, master,

what must l do

to have eternal life?

Go forth and maximize profits.

You say the Kingdom of Heaven

is at hand,

but when exactly will it come?

When you deregulate

the banking industry.

- ( voices overlapping )

- Help me.

l've been this way for 20 years.

l'm sorry, l cannot heal

your pre-existing condition.

He'll have to pay out of pocket.

Moore:
Somehow, l don't think

Jesus came to earth

so he could ring the bell

at the New York Stock Exchange.

And yet,

from the very beginning,

the rich have claimed him

for their own.

When l'm on Wall Street

and l realize

that that's the very nerve center

of American capitalism,

and l realize

what capitalism has done

for working people in America,

to me that's a holy place.

Let me add to it.

Over the whole duration of the lraq war

and the terror war,

you look at the world's stock markets

and you look at the world economy,

and despite these horrible pockets

of unrest and killing and murdering

that we've been describing,

it's never been better.

The global economy

has never been better

and the global stock markets

have never been better, Jimmy.

lt is either a God-given miracle

or it has something to do

with the victories

of the spreading world

of capitalism or both.

Moore:
They think

Wall Street's a holy place.

What do you think

Jesus would think of capitalism?

l think he would

simply refuse to--

to be part of it.

Moore:
Jesus would refuse

to be part of it,

but he probably had

a special place up there

for whoever leaked

a secret Citibank memo

about their plan to rule the world.

Back in 2005 and 2006,

Citigroup wrote

three confidential memos

to their wealthiest investors

about how things were going.

They reached the conclusion

that the United States

was no longer

really a democracy,

but had become a plutonomy--

a society controlled exclusively

by and for the benefit

of the top 1%/%

of the population

who now had

more financial wealth

than the bottom 95%/% combined.

The memo gloated about the growing gap

between rich and poor

and how they were now

the new aristocracy

and that there was no end in sight

for the gravy train they were on.

There was, though,

one problem.

According to Citigroup,

the most potent

and short-term threat

would be societies demanding

a more equitable share

of the wealth.

ln other words,

the peasants might revolt.

Citigroup lamented

that the non-rich

might not have

much economic power,

but they do have

equal voting power with the rich.

One person, one vote.

And that's what

really scares them--

that we can still vote.

ln fact, we have

and they only have 1%/%.

So why do the 99%/%

put up with this?

According to Citigroup,

it's because the majority of the electorate

believe that someday

they will have a chance

of becoming

well-to-do themselves

if they just keep trying

hard enough.

The wealthy were pleased

that so many people

had bought in

to the American Dream

while they, the rich,

had no intention

of ever sharing it with anyone.

l think capitalism is a lot more

important than democracy.

l'm not even a big believer

in democracy.

l always say that democracy is--

can be two wolves and a sheep

deciding on what to have

for dinner.

Moore:
This is Stephen Moore--

no relation--

a columnist

and an editorial board member

of ''The Wall Street Journal,''

the daily bible

of corporate America.

Look, l'm in favor of people

having the right to vote

and things like that, but you know

there are a lot of countries

that have the right to vote

that are still poor.

Democracy doesn't always lead

to a good economy

or even a good political system.

With capitalism, you are free

to do what you want,

to make whatever you want

out of yourself.

lt doesn't mean

you're gonna succeed.

Remember, the US Constitution

does not guarantee happiness.

Moore:

Ah, the Constitution.

All my life l've heard that America

is a capitalist country.

So l went to see the original Constitution

and check out if it was true.

l'm trying to see where it sets up

our economic system,

like where it says we have

a capitalist economy.

Guard:

The jurisdiction.

- Judicial part of the--

- Down there?

Moore:
There was no mention

of free market or free enterprise

or capitalism anywhere.

ln fact, all l saw

was ''We the people,''

something about

''a more perfect union,''

and ''promoting

the general welfare.''

Welfare, union, we?

That sounded like that other -ism.

But no, that's democracy.

And l began to wonder,

''What would it be like

And l began to wonder,

''What would it be like

if the workplace

was a democracy?''

There's always been a big separation

between how the country is run

and how businesses

are supposed to run.

Moore:

lt's true.

There seems to be a disconnect

between our professed love

of democracy

and how we're so willing

to accept a dictatorship

every day we show up to work.

lt's not that way

at lsthmus Engineering in Wisconsin.

They design and build

robotic machines for industry.

lt's a $15 million-a-year business.

Man:

All of the workers

are the owners of the business.

Moore:
He's not talking about

some bullshit stock option.

He means they're the true owners.

Man:
And it's a democratically-run

operation where every member

has one vote and an equal say.

- All in favor?

- All in favor?

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